Charming Point
by Linnado Mikado
Summary: A man in love often wonders what will make the woman he loves fall for him - luckily for Ruka he didn't have to look for long. I guess it's like what Natsume said, all you need is some 'bonne chance'


_A man in love often wonders what will make the woman he loves notice him - luckily for Ruka he didn't have to look far at all.  
__Like Natsume said, 'bonne chance!'_

_By Linnado Mikado_

**I don't own GA.**

**This one-shot was inspired by the manga Ao Haru Ride :)**

_Italics_ mean thoughts of either the main character or others.

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_"A man in love wants to stay by your side" - Man in Love, Infinite_

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* * *

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Ruka threw his whole body onto the bench and relaxed. Legs in a man spread, arms left lazily by his side and head tilted back, giving him that perfect view of the summer sky. His mood, however, wasn't perfect; and he found himself constantly lifting his head up to check on the reason why he was here in the first place.

Mikan and Hotaru.

He was currently in Central Town outside of the newest clothing boutique. It was all the rage and Mikan dragged him and Hotaru out to see it. He really only came because of Hotaru, and he was told that Natsume would be here too but turns out that his best friend had other things to do than to hang out with him.

He shut his eyes and sighed. At this point he wouldn't be surprised if he had some undiagnosed chronic sighing disease, it seemed like whenever anything in his life involved his infamous blackmailer, he just didn't have an answer for it.

Honestly, his clothes only made his mood worse. He was wearing a lilac coloured cotton shirt with matching shorts because he asked Mikan what they were going to wear and to be honest, he really wasn't interested in Mikan's outfit – he just wanted to match with Hotaru.

Only for her to come out wearing a flowing white dress.

Annoying as it is that he's the only one wearing purple, he was proud of himself for not going completely red once he saw her. She looked like the perfect bride (he'll never tell her that even if it kills him) and before he knew it, he had spent nearly 30 minutes just admiring Hotaru in her white dress.

_I'M SO UNCOOL!_

He slapped his cheeks and internally screamed. He probably looked like an absolute creep staring at a teenage girl through the shop's window as she browsed through items with her best friend. But every time he thought about her, he couldn't help but just embarrass himself; If no-one here knew who he was they probably would've called the teachers on him.

And stupidly enough he just had to see her smile at Mikan, a small smile which was only for her to see, and he saw it. And now not only is he blushing because he imagined her as his bride in that white dress, but also because he saw her rare smile.

He covered his red face with his hands and leaned down, so his elbows touched his knees and he sobbed.

_What should I do?_

He peeped at her through the gaps between his fingers.

_What should I do to make you like me Hotaru?_

_._

* * *

_._

Maybe he needed to change his image a bit.

Since he's in Central Town and all he's doing is whining about how he's probably as perverted as Natsume, he might as well look around and see what kind of guys Hotaru might like.

Outside of an ice-cream parlour, he saw a group of seniors joking around. Being only a year from graduating, they looked like adults already and just by looking at how mature they looked Ruka felt like a kid compared to them.

_What if Hotaru likes older guys?_

And once again he found himself worrying.

_If she likes older guys, then I'm screwed! There's no way I can get rid of my childish features quickly enough, and by the time I do, she'll already have a boyfriend…_

He leaned back on the bench and groaned, just the thought of Hotaru being with a guy that's not him caused him heartache.

_But maybe…_

He jerked up, got his phone out his pocket and turned the selfie camera on. He messed around with his hair a bit and imagined all the things he would say to Hotaru if he had the guts to even look at her in the eyes:

_Are you French? Because Eiffel for you._

_If the verb 'to love' didn't exist I would've invented it upon seeing you._

**_Je rêve de tremper ma baguette dans ta soupe.*_**

He froze as soon as he realised what he thought of and dropped his phone.

_I'm such a pervert! How could I think of something so impure!?_

He cupped his face in his hands and chanted:

**_I'm such a pervert, I'm such a fool, je suis le pire!*_**

**_._**

* * *

_._

Ruka soon realised that his actions probably looked weird to his fellow students who were just out in Central Town, minding their own business, only to see the school's prince mutter foreign words to no-one in particular while hitting himself on the head.

But one onlooker did approach him.

"Ruka?"

He lifted his head from his knees and swivelled his head to the source of the voice, his eyes shone when he saw Natsume standing beside him with a bag full of manga and the sun positioned in the sky right behind him.

"N- Natsume? Is that you?" He had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

Natsume wrinkled his nose at the dishevelled sight of his friend, "what are you doing here? And why are you wearing that disgusting colour?"

Ruka lowered his head as he pointed to the boutique Mikan and Hotaru were in, and once Natsume saw what was going on he grinned.

"So Mikan dragged you to come with her too?" He chuckled, "unlucky."

Ruka smiled wearily at him, "she said you were joining us but it looks like you had something more important to do." He raised a brow at the bag in Natsume's hand, "seems like manga is higher on the list of priorities."

Natsume let out a snort and pointed to the bag in his right hand. "I would've gone with my **girlfriend **if I didn't know that the last chapter of my favourite manga was coming out today and that there was only 1 left in stock. Plus, it's better if my **girlfriend **goes with someone who actually knows or cares about clothes, how the fuck am I supposed to know what a boyfriend jean is? I'm the only boyfriend my **girlfriend **needs."

He smirked smugly at Ruka who was now paying more attention to the concrete floor than to his best friend.

"ʸᵒᵘ ˡᵒᵒᵏ ʰᵃᵖᵖᶦᵉʳ ᵗʰᵉˢᵉ ᵈᵃʸˢ, " Ruka mumbled the words out yet Natsume still managed to hear him.

Natsume swung the bag over his shoulder and gave Ruka the most refreshing smile he's ever made in his whole life and for the second time in his whole life, his eyes didn't contradict what he was saying.

"Mikan just makes me happy."

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_._

Ruka had to admit, even though he was a perfectly straight male, what Natsume just said made his heart skip a beat. Plus, with the sunset in the background and the orange sky…

He clicked his tongue and looked to the side.

_Must be nice liking someone and having them like you back._

Seeing his once closed-off friend look at him with eyes glimmering was something that Ruka once thought was unimaginable, but one girl was all it took to change that.

**And Ruka yearns for that feeling.**

Then something clicked in his brain: _Maybe Hotaru likes bad-boys like Natsume?_

He always did get the feeling that Hotaru used to like his best friend before he started dating Mikan, the way she looked at him, spoke to him, she was a tsundere so maybe she was too shy to-

Okay, now he was getting paranoid.

But what if… What if it was true? And, maybe if he just does this, then Hotaru will come to like him.

He tried to imitate Natsume's signature look – the uncaring glare, only to have the main man himself stare at him strangely.

"Are you sick?"

Natsume was getting increasingly worried as Ruka proceeded to slap his cheek and shut his eyes tightly as if he was concentrating on something.

_I'm so stupid, I was trying to make a face that Hotaru might like._

He groaned as he eyed the girl of his dreams through the window again.

_Even though I want to use my own charm to win her heart._

He sank into his seat and looked off into the distance.

_Do I even have a charm?_

"Hey, Natsume." Ruka looked up at his friend who was playing on his phone, "what do you think my charm is?"

Natsume put his phone down briefly to give him the stink eye.

"What?" Was all he could say. He had no idea what was going on with Ruka, but he guessed that it must have something to do with Hotaru as he kept looking at the store where the girls were.

"You're…" He stopped to think about it for a minute, Natsume wasn't normally good with compliments, heck, he doesn't even compliment his own girlfriend – and he loves her. But he wanted to make Ruka feel good about himself, Ruka always helped him now it was his turn to help Ruka.

"You're… nice."

Ruka opened his mouth to speak but instead, he just face-palmed himself and shut his eyes in pain.

_HOTARU DOESN'T EVEN PAY ANY ATTENTION TO NICE GUYS!_

Natsume gave him a pat on the back, truth told, he did feel bad about not providing Ruka with the correct words of comfort, but everyone knows that Natsume Hyuuga was a man of action – not words. He nervously licked his lips as he realised that Ruka wasn't going to get any better with him around, so he decided to leave but got stopped by a rough yank on his sleeve.

"WAIT!"

Ruka had desperation written on his face as he held tightly onto Natsume's arm.

"Natsume, tell me why you like Mikan."

Natsume looked at him in confusion, "did you stop me just to ask me that?"

Ruka fervently shook his head, "I was thinking about it just now."

Natsume looked around and shrugged. Mikan was inside with Hotaru so she wouldn't -hear this, and none of her friends were in the area so it should be fine to say this.

"... Between us two, she's kind of like..." He stuck his hands in his pockets and thought about his words carefully.

_If I say this_

"I see her like..."

_He's gonna laugh_

"ᵂᵒⁿᵈᵉʳʷᵒᵐᵃⁿ"

**"WONDERWOMAN?!"** Ruka cracked a smile at the rare sight of Natsume covering his red face with his arm. He snickered as he patted his best friend on the back.

Natsume cleared his throat, "so what about it?"

"You know Natsume, I kind of get what you mean." He gave Natsume a sweet smile.

As he thought more about what Natsume said, he started to think back to all the times Hotaru ruthlessly blackmailed him, even though it was embarrassing it did help him open up more to his classmates - in a weird way. "I guess Hotaru is kind of like a superhero as well... I guess?" Thanks to Hotaru he learned how to depend on his fellow classmates when things get tough, and in return, they depend on him which has really helped him develop more as a person (even though that probably wasn't her aim).

While he sat there thinking about whether Hotaru was a villain or a hero, Natsume knew he cracked it.

"That's it."

Ruka blinked, "what's it?"

And for the first time that day, Natsume laughed.

"That's your charm."

Ruka stared at him in disbelief, him agreeing with him was his charm? That made 0 sense at all. Anyone could agree with Natsume that Mikan was like Wonder woman, or that Hotaru was weird enough to be both a villain and a hero.

Before he could ask any more Mikan came out of the store and hugged Natsume tightly on the arm, followed by Hotaru who decided to stand next to Ruka.

"Hey, Ruka!" She waved at him and he waved back, but the mood changed once she eyed her boyfriend.

"Natsume~" Mikan moaned as she looked up at her boyfriend.

"What?"

"You said you were too busy to come shopping with us, but here you are with a bag of manga you liar!" She pouted at him angrily which made him pinch her nose.

"Priorities, love." He kissed her on the cheek and dragged her away before she could complain. But as soon as he got to the end of the street he stopped and turned around to say one last thing to Ruka.

**"Ruka, bonne chance!"**

And then they left, leaving a confused Hotaru and a grinning Ruka behind.

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* * *

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"Nogi."

Ruka nearly jumped out of his skin when she spoke.

_SHEESUS WOMAN! I really don't think she's normal..._

He nervously laughed as he tried his best to divert his eyes away from her beautiful attire. "What's up Hotaru?"

Nice. He asked a question, now the conversation was finally getting somewhere.

She tilted her head and hummed, "I'm surprised you didn't buy anything, I remember you looking unusually excited about shopping."

Ruka could feel himself melt, she remembers how excited he was about 'shopping'!

_Oh God, how can a human be this cute? Look at the way she's tilting her head at me! And that blank stare!_

He will never tell her the real reason why he was so willing to go shopping with them, but he isn't complaining now, now she's paying attention to him and to him only.

"Well, I didn't really need anything," he smiled as he felt his ears burn, "but what did you buy Hotaru?"

She opened her bag and showed him a set of carrot earrings she bought.

Ruka nearly gasped when he saw the price tag on them, "500 rabbits!?"

"They're pure 24K gold, did you expect them to come cheap?" She made a 'duh' face at him and put them back in the little bag they came from.

Ruka soon realised that he probably looked like an idiot in front of her and quickly shut his mouth, "ah... Well, you've worked really hard to earn enough to buy them so it's worth it, right?" But he felt a bit awkward just from saying that so he quickly added, "I don't think I can ever catch up to you."

She looked at him directly in the eye which made him flinch, "I think you always work hard, Nogi."

This caused our Prince to blush and he laughed to try and push those feelings aside because knowing Hotaru, she's blunt and she probably just said it to be nice even though she's never really nice but maybe just this once she was trying to be nice.

_I shouldn't be getting all happy about that because this is Hotaru we're talking about, and that was in no way a confession._

"Thanks for working hard as my model for the past few years, because of your pictures I was able to buy these earrings." She gave him a sinister smirk which would make anyone back away, but a man in love always finds his lady endearing.

"If it's for you Hotaru, I don't mind being played around." And then he gave her a sweet smile that seemed so genuine that it caused Hotaru to widen her eyes at how breathtaking and sudden it was.

He noticed her wide eyes and grinned, "that made your heart-throb a bit, didn't it?"

She stared at him for a while and knitted her brows together before walking straight past him towards the entrance of the town.

This alarmed Ruka who started walking after her, "I- I was just kidding! Of course, your heart wouldn't beat for me hahaha..."

_I just made things really awkward, didn't I?_

She suddenly stopped and turned around to face him, Ruka impulsively took a few steps back as her face was nearing his.

"I never said anything, did I?"

Now it was Ruka's turn to widen his eyes, was he imaging things? Is this really Hotaru? Is the girl in front of him who's smiling at him and saying all of these non-Hotaru things really Hotaru?

And before he knew it he went as red as a stop sign.

_Oh lord, if this is a dream please don't wake me up._

_._

_._

**Bonne chance**.

They were Natsume's last words to him before he left and he just remembered them now.

_Should I?_

Hotaru scrunched her face up at the sudden silence, did she do something wrong? Maybe Ruka wasn't serious, and now she felt like a fool. But before she could turn around to leave, Ruka grabbed her by the arm and made her turn around to face him.

"H- Hotaru!"

His lady luck smiled at his blushing cheeks as she waited for those magical words.

"I like you! Can I have the pleasure of dating you!?"

He shut his tight as he waited for her answer, a soft touch on his cheeks made him open them and when he did he saw the most breathtaking scene of his life: Hotaru with a huge smile gracing her face as the sun began to set in the background with her white dress on, making her look like the most beautiful bride alive.

He would never forget this moment for as long as he lived

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* * *

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As they walked back that evening, hand in hand to Ruka's delight, Hotaru started chuckling.

"Eh? What's so funny?" Asked a confused Ruka, not going to lie, he was still a bit jumpy from her accepting his confession and he was worried that maybe she might try to take it back. After all, this was too good to be true.

"So you asked Hyuuga what your charming point was?" She smirked at him.

He could feel the heat radiating from his cheeks as he remembered how loud he was back outside the boutique with Natsume.

"Was I really that loud...?" He asked with a pleading look on his face.

She nodded and gently raked a hand through his hair, "I think I've found it, and I don't want to share it with anyone else."

"Hey! Not you too! That's unfair!"

She laughed freely.

**_I never want him to lose that smile_**.

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Hi! This was just a quick one-shot I thought of while re-reading "Ao Haru Ride" (one of the best shoujo mangas out there). Idk why but I always thought that the relationship between Murao and Kominato reminded me of another version of Ruka and Hotaru.

Thanks for reading and feel free to review!

(Also please check out my latest fanfic 'Water Lillies' :))

_**TRANSLATIONS:**_

* I dream to put my baguette in your soup (this is a sexual innuendo)

* I'm the worst

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